Before we leapfrog into December, I want to linger a moment and give our November holidays their due. Last weekend the Olathe Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) honored local veterans with a luncheon as we do every year on Veterans’ Day. November 11, 1918, was the first anniversary of the end of WWI and […]
Endings and Beginnings
We’ve been busy. No, we’re not opening a hardware store, but we just held a huge tool sale in our garage last Saturday. This is what a carpenter accumulates in 18 years when his wife isn’t paying attention. As you can see there were drills, saws, hand tools, more drills, more saws, heaters and lots […]
National Day of Everything
Did you know there’s a National Day for just about everything under the sun? I didn’t either until my friend Judi started emailing them to our Bible Study every Monday. We renamed this weekly list of trivia Funday and looked forward to it. I thought I’d share how Funday works. May 24th is National Brother’s […]
Our American Poets
Yesterday the snow fell steadily all day. The wind swirled, the snow piled up and life came to a standstill. This morning we woke to a pristine world of white blankets under a dazzling blue dome. As I wandered to the park at the edge our neighborhood, I thought of the woods where Robert Frost […]
“Lila’s Song” Wins Women Writing the West LAURA Award
If you could see me now, my feet are not touching the ground. Nor have they been since I learned my short story, “Lila’s Song,” won first place in The LAURA Short Fiction Awards at the Women Writing the West annual virtual conference in October. The award is named in honor of Laura Ingalls Wilder. […]
Thoughts on Labor Day Weekend
What does Labor Day mean to you? The end of summer? One last trip to the lake or a backyard barbeque with the family? Anticipation of autumn and the start of a new academic year? Last Saturday our Lot Owners’ Association at the lake hosted its annual fundraiser, the Ox Roast and Silent Auction. In […]
Finding Your Nook
Webster defines nook as “a sheltered or remote spot, secluded or obscure; a retreat.” For purposes today, I’m referring to nook as a “retreat” or finding your nook for reading. You know what I mean–that favorite place to settle in, undisturbed, where you spend hours as your book takes you away to anywhere and everywhere. […]
Italian Immigration Inspired Marcello’s Promise
This is my family. My grandfather, Peter Coletti, emigrated from Italy to America in 1909. After he was established working as a coal miner in Cumberland, Wyoming, he sent for his wife Josephine, my grandmother, and son Anthony. My grandparents raised their four children in this immigrant mining town owned by Union Pacific Coal Company. […]
Miracles of the Heart
During February, the month of hearts and valentines, I want to recognize some special people at Olathe Medical Center. Saying thank you to them seems wholly inadequate, but it’s a start. Two weeks ago Sunday after we sat down to breakfast, my husband’s eyes shifted to one side and he nearly toppled from his chair. […]
Remember Thanksgiving
A shared meal, and its importance, appears numerous times in Marcello’s Promise. It’s fun to write about food and see if I can make my own mouth water in the process. A steaming platter of roast beef swimming in juices, bread warm from the oven with a golden crust, slathered with butter. Italians are great […]